8 



SUBSISTENCE, MATING, AND BREEDING. 



Eagles and several other birds are often three, four, or five years 

 old before they can be called old birds, having donned their per- 

 manent plumage. 



Moulting. — The different changes to which the plumage is sub- 

 ject, are caused by the peeling off and discoloring of the feathers, 

 or the process of moulting. The consequence of the peeling off is 

 usually an embellishment, and the discoloring produces, in certain 

 portions of the plumage, a change of colors. The young White- 

 headed or Bald Eagle, for instance, is covered almost wholly in a 

 sober brown dress; in due time, the tail-feathers become spotted, 

 the white specks on them gradually becoming larger ; at length these 

 specks run into each other, till finally the whole tail turns white. 

 Nearly the same transformation occurs in the head-feathers, except 

 that with these the process begins in white streaks, gradually 

 widened, till the entire head is rendered perfectly white. The same 

 discoloring is seen in the American Goldfinch, whose plumage is 

 changed every spring from a light brown to a bright yellow, black 

 and white dress, and, in the fall, changed back to the modest 

 brown. Many other birds are subject to similar changes. 



The moulting of birds usually takes place when the feathers have 

 become damaged by long use, by the effect of light, dust, wet, 

 etc. Moulting generally begins shortly after hatching. The un- 

 usual heat of the body, and other causes occurring at that period, 

 injure the feathers. The change of feathers takes place at the 

 same time on different parts of the body, but always on the corre- 

 sponding parts of the two sides. On many birds, the smaller 

 feathers only are replaced at the first moulting ; the larger feathers 

 of the wing and tail, at the second. Several years are required 

 with some birds to replace the larger feathers, as only two new 

 feathers, one in each wing, are formed at the same time. The 

 moulting, in some cases, takes place so quickly that the birds, as 

 Ducks for example, become totally incapable of flying. When a 

 bird is in good condition, it appears, after each moulting, brighter 

 colored, and this brightness of color is not diminished, but increased 

 by age. Birds, at moulting time, are subject to many diseases, 

 and, as this process is necessary to their well-being, anything that 

 interrupts it endangers life. 



Longevity. — It may be laid down, as a general rule, that birds 

 attain, comparatively speaking, a great age. Pigeons sometimes 

 live twenty years ; Canaries, in cages, often sixteen or eighteen ; 

 Parrots, sixty to one hundred; Geese, eighty to ninety ; Linnets, 

 and other small birds caged, often ten to fifteen years ; Eagles, over 

 one hundred and twenty, and Lucans, as there is ample testimony 

 to prove, live from two hundred to two hundred and fifty years. 



Disease and Death. — Birds, generally speakings are not very 

 liable to disease. But they are exposed to many accidents and to 

 many enemies. They are continually destroyed by birds of prey 

 and other animals. Sometimes epidemics have been known to pre- 

 vail among certain species of birds, by which great numbers have 

 been swept off. At first view, it seems rather singular that the 

 body of a bird that has died a natural death, is seldom found. But 

 investigation has disclosed the fact that birds generally have an 

 anticipation of their approaching dissolution, and this feeling 

 prompts them to seek concealment. Birds that would otherwise 

 never enter any such place, prompted by this feeling, conceal 

 themselves in the cavities and hollows of trees, and creep under 

 stones and into the thick tussocks of grass, or other like places of 

 concealment. Only now and then is the dead body of a bird found 

 under its resting-place. The dead bodies of aquatic birds are 

 sometimes washed ashore, without bearing any traces of death by 

 violence. 



Subsistence, Mating, and Breeding. 



Vigilance and Activity. — Birds are active and lively. From 

 break of day till late at night, and often during the whole night, 



birds are awake and on the alert. The longest days seem too short 

 for them, and the shortest nights not short enough. At early morn 

 we hear in the woods the voices of birds ; the same voices are heard 

 during the day and long after nightfall. Birds seem to need very 

 little time for rest or sleep ; three or four hours appear to suffice. 

 From this rule, birds of prey and Vultures are exceptions ; as, 

 among birds, they are the indolent classes. 



Feeding. — All birds gifted with the faculty of singing, hail the 

 approaching day with a matin song, especially in the time of mat- 

 ing or breeding. After this they take breakfast. Most birds take 

 two regular meals daily — one in the morning and the other late in 

 the afternoon. Midday is usually devoted to rest, or to putting in 

 order and cleaning their feathers. Such birds as depend on luck 

 and chance for their supply of food, as birds of prey, generally 

 put up with one meal per day. Vultures have sometimes to con- 

 tent themselves with a single meal every other day, as they never 

 search for food, but depend on what chance and good luck may 

 offer. 



Birds, in general, to use a common expression, live only " from 

 hand to mouth." They eat food as they find it, unconcerned about 

 the morrow. Our Woodpeckers, however, generally store away 

 a considerable amount of food for winter use. They deposit it in 

 different places, as the hollows of trees, cracks in their bark, and 

 holes in the ground. Some other birds, as the Nuthatches, collect 

 food and hoard it in different storing-places. 



Bathing and Resting. — Birds drink immediately after feed- 

 ing, and then take a bath. This is taken in water, or in dry sand 

 or dust, and sometimes, in winter, in snow. Water-bathers exer- 

 cise a good deal after their bath, by flying about and shaking them- 

 selves. Then, after a short rest, their plumage is put in order and 

 preparation made for a foraging excursion. If the expedition 

 proves favorable, then, toward evening, the birds betake them- 

 selves to certain well-known haunts, for a social interview with kin- 

 dred and friends, before retiring for the night. The singing-bird, 

 ere he goes to his night's repose, warbles his sweetest songs, and 

 then retires, either in company with others of his kind, or, in breed- 

 ing time, with his little sitting mate or with his young ones. He 

 never goes to sleep without having previously engaged in some sort 

 of conversation, carried on by means of various gestures and 

 chatterings. He ceases only when overcome by fatigue. 



Rating. — The breeding season with birds is always in the 

 spring. In the torrid zone, it occurs in the rainy season, which 

 perhaps corresponds to our spring. Birds, generally practice mo- 

 nogamy ; ver}^ few among them are polygamists. A pair once 

 united, are, as a general rule, mated for life, and it is only in ex- 

 ceptional cases that either proves conjugally unfaithful. Yet, as 

 there are more males than females among birds, it naturally hap- 

 pens that a number of male birds, including those that have lost 

 their female companions, are compelled to remain unmated. These 

 are described as restless, wandering from place to place in search 

 of mates, and resorting to various tricks and devices to entice away 

 females from their allegiance to their " liege lords." The result is, 

 that the latter often become furiously jealous, and quarrels, and 

 even severe fights, frequently ensue. Though the attempted se- l 

 duction is sometimes successful, yet it often happens that the female 

 sallies forth with her mate to drive off to a respectful distance the 

 impudent intruder on their domestic felicity. So much for con- 

 stancy in female bird mates. On the other hand, it has been ob- 

 served that a female bird having lost her mate, became, in half an 

 hour afterward, the partner of another male ; and this second mate 

 being killed, she did not hesitate a moment to listen to the addresses 

 of a third wooer. The male birds are ardent in their courtship, 

 displaying all their beauty and attractions. Some woo by gentle 

 longing calls and by singing ; others, by a sort of dancing or gam- 

 boling in the air ; sometimes the male pursues the female for hours, 



